In The Heat Of Battle
by Tabbyluna
Summary: Battles are bloody, messy. And more often than not, you come out of them with less than what you came in with.


It was an intense battle. Hundreds of drow elves against a handful of Skylanders. The leader of that mission, Blades, claimed that it was no big deal. And Star Strike had believed him, with her fans opened and ready to cut. They had tackled armies like this before, and they had done so in style too. Surely this one was no problem.

This army had been different. For whatever reason, (Dark magic? Advanced weaponry? Better battle tactics?) it had not been a simple skirmish. Left and right, Skylanders began to fall, injured, bleeding, some of them barely alive. Blades went down first, protecting the lot of them. He was portalled away to safety, but he wasn't the last to be portalled that day. The same thing happened to Stealth Elf, when a hulking Goliath Drow knocked her out. Flashwing. Boom Jet. Echo. Zook. One by one, Skylanders got portalled away. They were barely making a dent on the army, and their top priority changed from defeating enemies to safely escorting nearby villagers away.

Star Strike had called for backup. After Stealth Elf fell, she was supposed to be the third-in-command. She had taken up leadership positions in the past, but this had to be the most stressful mission yet. Every few minutes, someone would report an injured friend, and she had to think of a new strategy so that they did not lose anyone. "Try to fit people in," she told Stormblade. "Get them on your plane and get them back to the safe zone. Astroblast and Thrillipede said that this one is the last batch. Just-" she stopped as she noticed an axe in her peripheral, and spun to reflect the attack right back into the dark elf's face. "Just do that for now. Us land soldiers will take care of the army."

With the call done, she focused all her attention on the army surrounding her. All around, almost everywhere she looked, there was a drow elf ready to fight. The air stank of dead bodies and blood, her body was aching all over, and her throat and mouth were horribly dry. Scanning the area, she tried to spot any nearby Skylanders. But she only saw two. Backed in a corner was Whirlwind, fiercely shooting rainbows and summoning her storm clouds. Her wings were bloodied, her legs looked bent, but her determination was shining through on her face and in her actions.

In the distance she spotted Starcast. Tossing his shurikens every which way, he seemed to have everything under control. His muscular body had only some cuts and bruises, while Whirlwind was clearly weak and bleeding. And since she was closer to her, Star Strike knew that she needed to help her first. So as fast as she could, she began to make her way to her.

"Whirlwind! You alright?" She called out, summoning stars and deflecting them onto the sea of drow between them. They scratched their green skin, their leather armour, and a few stars managed to damage their eyes. While they recovered from that sudden attack, Star Strike took the opportunity to slash at them with her fans. She took them down left and right. There would probably be more soldiers to come - they were coming at them in small but efficient waves - but for now, she had at least managed to clear a path towards Whirlwind.

"Y-yeah, still fine!" Said Whirlwind, her legs shaking and her horn sparking with rainbows. Whirlwind was licking and biting her lips, an obvious sign that she was trying to distract herself from the pain. Star Strike spotted a Goliath Drow sneaking up to her from behind, and aimed a flurry of stars towards him. Scarring him and alerting Whirlwind of his presence.

Star Strike turned around and dodged the attacks of two spearmen. She countered with her fans, and then turned her attention back to Whirlwind. "You look hurt. Go back to the Academy now, before you get yourself killed!" Thunderclouds rumbled around them, acting as a barrier by electrocuting weak soldiers around them. But the strong were coming at them, and they were coming at them fast.

Whirlwind, with great effort, shot another rainbow beam at a Drow Witch racing towards them. "I can't just go home now, Star!" She grunted again, and shot out another rainbow. It missed the Witch. Bt it did hit a spearman. "I've got to help protect the villagers here. I signed up to be a Skylander to protect the weak, not to save myself in a crisis!"

Star Strike shot a star shard at the Witch, killing her off. "Reinforcements will be here soon. Me and Starcast can manage. Go now, find Breeze, get yourself healed. And try to heal anyone who needs it too. That's what I need you to do."

It took great effort to speak cooly. Especially in circumstances like these, and to someone as temperamental as Whirlwind. But it must have worked. Whirlwind merely nodded after those instructions were given, and when a portal emerged at her feet, she jumped in quickly and quietly. It left only her and Starcast on the battlefield. Summoning another fleet of stars, she aimed them at a horde of Drow coming her way, and began to look around to find him.

He was at least several feet away, now picking up and tossing the smaller soldiers away. They were improvised weapons, since he was clearly fresh out of shurikens. This battle had been going on for too long, if he had run out of his signature weapon to use. She needed to talk to him. Plan out what they needed to do before the others arrived.

The Portal Network, recently rebooted, was still pretty unstable. Sending large groups through the Portals was out of the question, and all of the current Portal Masters needed to focus on transporting the injured away, first and foremost. Reinforcements were coming via M.A.P, but the M.A.P system was nowhere near as fast as the Portal system. And since this was a fairly small, isolated island, it would be hard to find it. She knew that they did get lost for a little while. The second team's probably struggling with directions too, so she'd expect them to take a while before they could come to their aid.

Using her fans, she once again slashed out a path to her fellow Skylander. She summoned stars, making them rain to injure the army. Despite that, a few managed to lay their hands on her. Fighting her way through the crowd, a spear grazed her arm, an axe sliced her dress, a witch hit her with a beam. But she persisted. Consumed by her focus, she sliced and she fought her way to Starcast.

"Starcast!" She called out. Sensing something, she turned around and slashed a sneaking soldier in his face. "Can you still manage it?"

From above the ruckus, he had somehow managed to hear her. He nodded, all while picking up soldiers and smashing their skulls together. "When are the others coming?" He asked.

"Should be soon. Be patient, you know how hard it is to find this place." Another Goliath Drow was about to hit her with his axe. So she slashed at him and sent a torrent of stars raining down on him. They cut through his leather armour, making it far easier for Star Strike to cut his skin. And within a minute the soldier fell down bleeding. Allowing Star Strike to focus her attention on the weaker soldiers.

Starcast merely nodded, even though she didn't take note. He continued picking up smaller soldiers, and tossing them against each other. Into larger soldiers. Making use of them as improvised weapons. There were dozens of them, and none of them seemed to give up easily. But even though they were strong, Starcast was stronger. Only by a margin, but stronger nevertheless.

He tossed them around, breaking their bones and rendering them useless in a fight. It was a busy battle. Soldiers came in from all directions. But a trained Skylander like him had no trouble keeping up. From the corner of his eye, he could spot Star Strike effortlessly spinning and slicing. Summoning stars and navigating through the mooks. The sounds of metal cutting against skin were fresh in the air, but most were from Star Strike's attacks. Thank goodness.

But there was a new sound, which his sensitive ears managed to pick up. The sound of something elastic. Multiple elastic things stretching. And it was a familiar sound too. But where had he heard it before? He searched his memories while continuing to fight off endless mooks.

He turned around to slam a spearman into a Goliath Drow's face. And when he went down, that was when he saw it. In the distance, a couple hundred metres away, there was a small team of archers heading towards them via tank. Their bows were drawn, and they were aiming right at Star Strike.

She couldn't hear them coming. Of course she couldn't. Someone like her wasn't literally born out of a wish for a fighter. She couldn't pick up on a sound so subtle, at least, not above the regular noises in a battle. He knew that he needed to do something, but without any sort of weapon, he didn't know what.

The arrows would be coming in soon. He needed to act now. Screw a plan, he needed to do what first came to mind. All Skylanders may have signed up to defend Skylands, and consented to the risk of dying in battle. But if they could help it, no man should be left behind. And Star Strike, tied up in the heat of combat, needed his help now.

And so without another though, he kept forward. Running towards her just as all the arrows were being fired towards her.

The next few things which happened, happened so quickly Star Strike could barely process it. She was in the middle of fighting her way through the Drow army. The current wave was thinning out nicely, and she knew she needed to be aware of any upcoming troops. So she looked up. But what happened next startled and scared her way more than a million armies could ever.

Right before her eyes, Starcast bulldozed over dozens of soldiers. Crossing through the battlefield to where she was. A second later she finally noticed the arrows which were about to hit her, and in a blink of an eye, Starcast leapt in front of her to block them.

She gasped, watching this mighty tower of a man stay completely still in front of her. His four arms widely spread out to block anything from hitting her at any angle. There he stood. Swaying, rocking, as if he was doing everything he could to continue standing up straight. But all that was in vain, because soon he toppled over. Finally too weak to carry on. It was then when she started to panic.

You weren't supposed to panic on the battlefield. That was one of the cardinal rules of fighting. One which was beaten into the heads of the Skylanders training session after training session. They all tried to keep their heads as cool as possible, because freaking out could spell disaster for all of them. But seeing Starcast there, lying there bloody with arrows in his chest. She couldn't help it. A nervous panic was making its way through her body, and she didn't know what to do.

A small voice in her mind was telling her to focus. To keep her head in the game. She was a soldier and a fighter, she was supposed to be better than this. But seeing an ally fall like that, right in front of her eyes, it made her freeze up. As if something inside of her was breaking, and it was preventing her from doing anything else.

A soldier sneaking up on her snapped her out of her thoughts, so she slashed her fans at him. He was finished. In the process, she dodged the second set of arrows aimed at her. If she wanted to mourn Starcast, or at least bring his body back in one piece, she needed to bring him somewhere safe. But where?

It was too dangerous to call for help now. There may be far less soldiers out and about, but she was the only one on the battlefield. It made her an easy target. All her energy needed to go towards fighting them off. She gritted her teeth, gripped her fans, and rushed towards the soldiers. Ready to take them down.

Star Strike continued dodging arrows, praying that the tank would not run over his body. She summoned stars at them and slashed at the foot soldiers, but there seemed to be no safe place in sight. In her emotional high, she found her technique becoming less graceful. It was rougher, more brutish, and focused more on inflicting damage than finishing someone off efficiently. It hurt, especially in her weakened, tired form. But she didn't care. All she wanted to do was protect him, her friend. She felt dizzy and faint. Every slash took effort, every summon took focus. But while she was there. While there were still dark soldiers out to kill her and damage the villages and Starcast's body, she wanted to do what she could. She decided that the only thing she could do now was to protect his body. And even if she had to do it with great anger and sadness, by Eon's beard she will do it.

They were dropping faster now. The streams of stars summoned were more intense than ever, and she was cutting any soldier who so much as looked at her and Starcast. Arrows followed her around, and she dodged them all. A few grazed at her dress and skin, but she didn't care. No matter what, she needed to stay alive. Cut, went down one soldier. Slash, went down another. And on and on until finally, she was the last woman standing. Bloody, tired, and heartbroken, but still the last one standing.

She drifted towards Starcast, and knelt over his lifeless body. In the state that she was in right now, she allowed a few tears to drop from her eyes. But those few tears soon turned into sobs. And those sobs quickly grew into wails. There, clutching him tightly in her arms, she let herself grieve. Before anyone could come back for her, before she requested for portals which could take them back, she needed to air her grievances. And in that empty, lifeless field, she called out and screamed and cried to her heart's content.


End file.
